Hughes Aircraft Company

David E Schnelker

William S Griffin

Ross D Olney

A self-inflating tire pump is integrally fixed to a wheel of a vehicle for automatically pumping air into an inflation region of a tire which is mounted on the wheel. The pump includes a piston which is movable radially outward in a cylinder by centrifugal force to draw air from the atmosphere into a compression chamber and is movable radially inward by a biasing element to compress the air in the compression chamber and pump it into the inflation region. The biasing element includes a surface of the piston which is exposed to air pressure in the inflation region, and prevents the piston from moving outward until the wheel rotates above a certain speed, thereby preventing contaminants such as water and dirt from entering the compression chamber during low speed operation of the vehicle in adverse terrain. A stopper mechanism prevents the piston from moving when the tire pressure is above a normal value, thereby reducing frictional wear of the pump.

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Agoura, CA, United States of America

David E Schnelker